Saturday, July 27, 2013

New Ads on My Blog

New ads on my blog. As you can probably see I got some new ads on my blog. They are not from Google's Adsense as I am saving them up later once I really fix up the site nicely and get some more real content going.  Instead I opted for Chitika's ad services to see how things shape up. I've heard mixed opinions on their payouts, services, etc. but I wanted to experiment how Chitika stacks up.

So why did I decide to put some ads on my blog? A for a variety of reasons. No, I don't need the money now as I doubt making $. 02 (yes, that is 2 lincoln pennies) a day is really going to help with my living contributions. And I'm not exaggerating or anything of that nature when I say I will be making 2 cents a day. Because I figure that's what I will average.

Getting 50 Page Views Per Day

I am not even getting 50 page views per day so why am I even bothering with getting ads in the first place with low amounts of people coming to the site? Even though the site is still growing little by little?
That's because I want to experiment how it feels like to be a publisher working with an advertising agency. I want to see how people feel where I place ads. I want to see how the site looks, loads, and all of that stuff.

How Do I Make Money as a Blogger

This is my end goal while providing content with you and learning something from it. Learning do's and don'ts, what's the best advertising site, etc. I have ZERO experience with HTML. In fact, placing the ad banners was a bit of a pain since I barely knew how to place them. I have ZERO marketing experience when it comes to the internet. I am slowly spreading the word through a few blog comments. I did try one forum about my weight loss journey but stopped because I hurt my hamstring and lost motivation (although I am getting back into the exercise routine, stay tuned). But I do want to fall, make mistakes, and learn from them. My trip to living in Thailand is getting closer and closer and I need to make strides.

Stay tuned for more stuff and yes, I will get to the Thailand stuff!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Day 22: Update on Alexa Ranking!

This question pops in my head all the time...which is this..

Can I Make A Living By Blogging?

And while part of me gets a bit pessimistic with doing this, it's stuff like what I discovered today that adds fuel to my fire. Read on....

I just finished doing a nice cleansing on the blog trying to get rid of some spam that was showing up as page views.After days of waiting, I finally applied Google Analytics to see how many visitors are coming to the site. Some days it looks REALLY depressing and other days it makes me go WOW.

Just not long ago I decided to do another check up on Alexa to see if there has been any change. Much to my surprise there was a change, a BIG change. My Alexa ranking improved BIG TIME. I'm not sure what did it because it's not as if a big wave of people came to the site to read every article or anything. I know some may think Alexa ranking is not important, but for now, Ill take the improvement. Any good boost for my pysche is very helpful at this stage of blogging.

So what was the Alexa Ranking?

3,566,905

Yesterday it was in the higher 4,000,000s. This is a huge improvement though I still have ways to go! My goal for Alexa is to get in the under 1,000,000 range by September. Take note also that I do NOT have an Alexa toolbar installed at the moment which helps with Alexa rankings.

I will also get to the other part on Thailand as I've been writing my draft on this blog. Some good stuff to read that you might learn which was quite helpful for me to live there. On a closing note, thanks once again for reading the site and stay tuned as I have some good stuff coming out soon!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Day 21: Blog Continues to Grow!

I was about to do a third part of my Living in Thailand series but I still wanted to save that for another day. Just wanted to post a site update and share with everyone of what is going on. So how can a blog with a  micro-niche grow without hardly any marketing? Beats me, but I can at least guess. One part I believe is sharing your experiences on a particular subject. One that I know quite well is living in other countries for pennies on the dollar.

How can you live in Costa Rica for pennies on the dollar?
Is it possible to live in Colombia for under a $1000?
Can a person retire in Thailand with small income?

These are some of the areas that I know pretty well and have actually LIVED and will LIVE. Anyhow, onto the blog news

My blog has been slowly but steadily growing. Right now my average after 21 days is approaching the 30 per day range. Again, for some people, getting 30 page views per day on a blog is not a big deal, but for me any kind of growth is great news. If people continue to come to this blog and learn a little something from it, Im very happy.

Soon I will clean up this blog and use a real domain name that anyone can easily remember. This blog will also get a nice face lift yet keeping it clean and simple. I'm going to separate this blog into different sections:

- One for articles in relations to living in different countries
- One for my daily journals and musings
- One for my weight loss goals which is kinda part of my 200 day transformation.

That is all for now, I'm pretty damn hungry right now and need to feast on some frozen organic blueberries. YUM!


Monday, July 22, 2013

Day 20: Finally Here at Last!

Just wanted to give a quick HELLO to all of my readers checking out this blog on my 200 day experiment. In case this is your first time reading this blog and are wondering what this 200 day experiment is all about (for more details check out the first few blog posts I've made on my journey), it's basically my journey from quitting a good full time job to making a living by blogging. Yes, I do understand that I'm not going to make nowhere the amount as I do in my normal job, but I will compensate this by reducing my cost of living by moving overseas.  I'm also doing this too so that others who are considering blogging but have NO computer skills at all like myself who barely know how to use a laptop have a chance.

Do I have backup plans in case if 'things don't work out'? Yes I do, but let's put it this way, I'm REALLLLLY hoping that things work out in the blogging world. And why 200 days? Because that is the time when I am leaving to Thailand from the starting point of this blog.  All leading up to....

How To Monetize a Micro Niche Blog

This is where it comes down to. How am I going to monetize this blog? This will discussed more into detail like displaying ads via AdSense or Media.Net, etc. Now some people may not be too eager to hear this kind of info on my blog but I'd rather be upfront and tell you exactly what I'm doing. I've seen a few blogs that say that getting an income from their site is of no importance.....

REALLY?  LOL

Then why do I see ads on their blog? Anyhow, I don't want to delve into another topic.

So let's RECAP my old goals, here is my old post from Day 1



"My main focus is to put out content for you guys on a consistent basis. Yes, right now im typing to ghosts so be it.


Between Day 1 to Day 20 I hope to gain at least two or three readers. All we have is page views on Blogger so ill go by that. So if I can get a few readers to enjoy my stuff by Day 20 on a consistent basis, ill be happy. 


Keeping it simple for now and give out good quality information.

After Day 20 I will revalauate where to go from there and see how this blog is doing. I will give you, my invisible readers (har har)...some stats here and there.

So lets recap:

Day 1-20 give quality content on consistent basis,keep a few readers. Wish me luck!!




So did I hit my goals? I would have to say a YES, although I wasn't perfect. I wanted to post more consistently (like everyday) though still not too shabby. And did I gain a few readers? Yes I did! My average page views per day now is around 20 per day.

Now time for some new goals for days 21-40.

And here they are:

1. Continue to post consistently with good quality stuff.
2. Cross your fingers and hope readers can spread the word. My goal for now is to hit 75-100 page views on average (yes, I agree that is not the best point and I shouldn't worry about things like page views, but it's a pretty good barometer to see if readers are checking my stuff).

I know some are chuckling in the blogging world for making lofty expectations, but I really want to push things now into a higher gear. On one hand I am patient though on the other hand I do have 200 days to see if I can really see if my dreams of blogging for a living can come at least somewhat true and hopefully inspire others.

I will also do stats update throughout the days. Part of me feels like I won't make my goals since now Im reaching a bit high in a short period of time, but the other part of me fees like it's worth taking a shot at such a goal and see where it falls. Again, I thank you all for supporting me!

One last thing, I do have another goal. Here is my site under Alexa (yes, I know it's not the most accurate and it can really vary, but I still like using it as a basic barometer.

Alexa Rank:

Let's see if I can reach under 4,000,000 range in that time span. I know that rank is not impressive at all but I just want to see if there is an improvement in that time frame.

That's pretty much it everyone! Im pretty happy to see how much this site has grown in a short period of time, let's see where the chips fall in 3 weeks!





Sunday, July 21, 2013

How Much Do Things Cost in Thailand? A Quick FAQ

I've been getting some good feedback on the start-up series for cost of living in Thailand. Also when I scout around in various forums in relations to living in Thailand you start to notice some of the same questions that gets asked around. What I've decided to do for today is to do a small FAQ on some questions pertaining to costs in Thailand. I will continue on with the series since I will getting to other basic costs in more detail.

Here is some basic questions:

How Much Do Things Cost in Thailand?

What's interesting is that I just got this question a few minutes ago and although vague, I do understand what the reader is trying to ask. So how much do things cost in Thailand when it comes to miscellaneous related items? I will do a nice breakdown of some costs but for example, a 500mL bottle of Cola cost around 12-15THB, which is less than 50 cents. For roughly the same amount in the US, it would cost around $1.29 to $1.79 in the store. Not only that, but the Cola made in Thailand is made from REAL SUGAR, not that crap High Fructose Corn Syrup stuff found in the states.


More details about these kind of misc items in my series later on....

How Much Does A Massage Cost in Thailand?

I knew one day I was going to be asked this question and now this day has finally came, LOL. One of the finer highlights about Thailand is their massages. They are simply amazing and it's a must thing to do for anyone that comes to visit Thailand. When you go for long walks around the streets of Bangkok, your feet will be pretty much aching at the end of the day. Nothing is more pleasurable than getting a basic foot massage. The cost of a foot massage can range anywhere from 150THB to 400THB which is around $5-$13. The person massaging your foot puts your feet in a bath of water (which is usually contains some herbs to relax you) and your feet goes to heaven. Yes, there is other types of massages but the foot massage quickly came to mind. I will once again go over this in better detail in part with my series.

Things To Do In Bangkok Thailand

Believe me when I say this, but there are TONS of things to do in Thailand at any time. Whether you have little or lots of money there isn't any excuse why you shouldn't have any fun in Thailand. Thailand is known for their culture and history, and before I say anymore, stay tuned as I will get into further details with this stuff. I will make this into a separate article of its own on discussing what do in Bangkok. But for starters, as I discussed briefly in another article here, you can simply go walking around in different parts of Thailand and do some sight seeing. If you are a girl you can spend weeks going window shopping on all sorts of various stuff. You can try all sorts of different snacks like exotic fruits or fine pastries. Don't worry about getting fat trying the goodies, the amount of walking will burn any calories you get from eating.

How To Manage Money In Thailand

I am really tired of reading people saying it is impossible to live under $1000 a month let alone $600 and for that money you will only eat rice and beans with nothing to do. This is simply false since people tend to manage their money poorly. When you try to budget on living with $600 a month, there isn't too much room for error so some discipline is required. I am going to show you why it is possible to live for this amount and HOW to do it as well.  Yes, if you happen to have access to more money than that, then by all means upgrade your lifestyle but it is still possible to live great for that much. Thai people live for almost half of that amount yet manage to live a nice and happy lifestyle. Stay tuned as I might make this Part III of my How To Live for $600 in Thailand series.

There are some more questions but I will get to those later. Please continue to spread the word about this site as I people sharing this site with others! I really appreciate your word of mouth help and your feedback! Expect to see some upgrades on this site very soon.


Saturday, July 20, 2013

Day 18: Stats and Video?

Excuse the little absence of not posting the past few days as Ive been prepping up some stuff for the site.

FIRST: I got a hold of a good quality video camera which is great for shooting some youtube clips. I am tired of having to depend on my crappy IPhone camera (the 4 version) to get some good pics. And if you expect me to shoot some video with my phone, forget it. Id rather put the money to get a good quality camera and give you guys some quality videos.

Now let's get on to some stats. Stats thus far have been pretty good. My site is still young though I was hoping to be a bit higher at this point. Again, Im relying on page views at the moment (just installed google analytics so can't do visitors yet) and averaging right around 20 page views per day. Not too shabby with the site being not even 20 days old. I will do an update on stats in a few a days to discuss goals, plans and what Im going to do in the future.

Will do an update on Living in Thailand series tomorrow perhaps, stay tuned!

Monday, July 15, 2013

How To Live In Thailand for $600 a Month (Part 2- Find a Place to Stay)



If you haven't read the first article, make sure to click here now. Now let's move on to the meat of the story which is of course trying to live in Thailand for PENNIES on the dollar.

So you went to Thailand (Bangkok) and you had a blast. You experienced a new type of culture that includes great food, warm people and great day time activities. The hotel that you stayed was nice and comfy in a great location. You are preparing to stay in Thailand for a longer term, maybe a few months or really trying to live there, so now what?

Let's Find an Affordable Place To Stay in Thailand

I am going to assume that you are going to stay at Bangkok.(For reference, if you live in the North or Northeast part of Thailand, the cost of living is 10-25% cheaper than the big city). The first thing you need in Thailand is a safe place that is clean and hospitable. Most apartments in Bangkok are usually studios that come furnished which includes a bed, bathroom, closet and a table.

For a little bit more money, you can upgrade to a studio that will also include an Air Conditioner, a TV, a small fridge and internet access. This is the type of furnished studio that I highly recommend since it makes your transition from your home country (UK, US, Aus, Canada, etc) to Thailand much easier. You could save a bit more money by not getting these extra options but trust me on this, having access to cold drinks, cool air and internet is a must.

Studio apartments range in all different prices. On the low cheap end, you can find studio apartments for as low as 1800 THB (yes, thats the Thai currency, $1 gets you roughly 30 THB)  which is roughly $60 to studios in the range of 60,000 THB (and even higher of course) which is roughly $2000. We are going to focus in two ranges in this article. Also will focus mainly on furnished apartments.

- Cheap, Basic Yet Hospitable (Stage 1)

In this range you can find studio apartments anywhere from 1800 THB to around 5000THB ($60 to $160).  In the low end range you will find a basic room that comes with a bed, closet and a tabl e. They tend to be farther away from the action (or the heart of Bangkok) and away from main forms of transportation (such as sky trains and subways which really helps you get around Bangkok very cheaply). You could find studio apartments towards the heart of Bangkok in this price range but it really takes lots of walking around and research to get these prices. Also having a local or a Thai friend can help you find prices in these ranges.

If you decide to pay around $60 of rent a month, living standards may not be an easy transition for you. You will have no air conditioner or a refrigerator to get by with. The weather in Bangkok gets around 90 degrees as a high to around a low of high 70s at night that's humid. If you are comfortable to sleep with a fan at night, then it may not be a concern. Don't associate paying this low of a price with being in the 'ghetto' or being unsafe. Believe me, the cheap studious in Bangkok I can say feels safer than lots of middle class places in America.

As you move up to the higher end in this range, this is where I think might suit you the best. Check out the pic below :



What do you see in that pic? A basic room with a closet, small fridge, a desk, tv on top of a table, mostly likely internet access included and most important (at least for me), an Air Conditioner. This is what to expect around the 4500 to 5000 THB range. At these prices you can expect to be somewhat close to the heart of Bangkok and a bit close to the subways and skytrains. The locations are suitable for most and is a great way to start your living in Bangkok. Nothing fancy here but suits the purpose.



Upgrade in Comfort and Style Yet Not So Pricey (Stage 2)

In this level we are going to talk about an upgrade in style, comfort, and a better location as far as how close you are the central part of Bangkok along with skytrains and subways. Do realize that many apartments price their studios depending on how close they are to the subways and skytrains aside from just location. Bangkok is very heavy in traffic and is a big city thus using these high tech forms of transportation makes getting to work, shopping malls, pubs, etc that much easier. This would be the 5000 THB to 10,000 THB price range ($160 to $320)

Take that same pic you see above and put it in a closer location to the heart of Bangkok with great access to transportation and you are paying say around 6000-8000 THB instead of 4-5000 THB.

For the upper end of this range, say around 9000 to 10,000 THB range, in an area that is somewhat close to the subway/skytrain and somewhat close to the heart of Bangkok....here is what a typical apartment may look like...





I got this pic from the classified section of the bangkokpost (Thai newspaper that caters to English speakers).

As you can see the floors have more style than the other level. The walls are designed lavishly as well as the bed settings. There are other cool upgrades like having a built in dresser along with your bed that makes your room that much tidier instead of stuffing all of your clothes in one small closet. The rooms tend to bigger as well as the bathrooms looking a bit nicer.

Once again, this same apartment in the heart of Bangkok would go for a bit more than the 9-10,000 THB. Though with good research and due diligence on your hand, you can get these apartments for a good price even at a great location.

Due realize that the prices Im  giving you is a ballpark average figure. Im sure there are people who are going to email me by saying that they have a really nice studio apartment for $100/m and vice versa. Again, this is just basic general figures just to get a simple mindset of what to expect.

Contracts/Terms Etc

The contract in terms of renting an apartment are pretty basic. Apartments tend lease out their studios in a 3 month, 6 month, and yearly agreements. Obviously the longer you rent, the cheaper the prices are. The last time I went to Thailand for a few months I stayed at a Stage 1 studio that had a MONTHLY contract! While it wasn't to close to the heart of Bangkok, it was still reasonable enough if that I wanted to get to central Bangkok all it took was a bit of extra transportation time and a few more cents in paying bus fees (Transportation, food and fun costs will come in a future article in this series).

I was paying 4000 THB which is about $125 a month. All they required was my passport copy, a signature, and a one month deposit upfront which was returned at the end. Do realize that monthly contracts are VERY hard to find and if you do find them they will certainly inflate the prices a lot.

Deposits for a typical apartment usually go by one to two months on top of your regular monthly payments. The last place I stayed, I paid 8000 THB that included one month rent and deposit.

There are a bunch of sites to search for an apartment (I have a Thai friend that searches at a Thai website that usually shows prices a bit cheaper than to us foreigners) but the best advice I can give you is to actually go there in person yourself. Go walk around and look around yourself. Here is a popular website for foreigners (and for some Thai people) to get a better look at some places. This site is called MrRoomfinder so click here.

That wraps it up for now but the info I gave to you here is the bare bones guide to help you get an eye of what to expect. I will go over stuff like utilities (which in general is pretty cheap, just don't go to hog wild with the Air Conditioner for 24 hours a day, use common sense) and other types of expenses associated with renting an apartment. Though the info I gave you in this article pretty much wraps that up.

As you can see, you can find a reasonable clean apartment in the $150 range in the big city of Bangkok. For the same kind of apartment in the Northern part of Thailand, you can expect to pay around the $100-$120 range!

Stay tuned for other cost of living items like food, transportation, activities, odds and ends, etc. Also will discuss more on actually how to make some money in Thailand (yes, this is the harder part but possible)

I do want to put one last disclaimer here for a certain group. If you happen to have a good job where you live that you worked hard to get at, if you have a family to take care of and comfortable with how you live and your social group, then coming to Thailand is not for you. I have friends that go out drinking on weekend nights, watch Sunday football with their buddies and have a BBQ, that are involved in activities in their community....Thailand is not for them.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!


Sunday, July 14, 2013

How To Live In Thailand for $600 a Month




If you are tired of being a robot on a daily basis where you go to work, come home to eat some crappy McDonalds burger, watch some boring show on TV, sleep...and repeat this on and on for years, this might the article for you. First off a little bit about me in this article I wrote about my experiment trying to move away from the US.

Basically my life is no different than a robot. Work, eat, browse the net, and sleep x 5 days a week. Once and awhile Ill go out to see the movies or eat a nice place, but at the end of the night I still feel down with no fulfillment in my life. It feels like people all around are trying to 'one up' each other by getting the latest wardrobe, or taking out a new lease on some car that they are slaving over. Quite frankly Im tired and it's time to move on.

Welcome Thailand!

Thailand is country in the southeast part of Asia where the climate remains the same throughout. Warm with periods of rain on and off. Yes, this country has a tropical climate which makes it great for walking in shorts and flip flops while going to the beach. The food is one of the best in the world and the people are very friendly. Let's move onto my experience.



I remembered when I first got off the plane to going to Thailand. I arrived in it's biggest called Bangkok and was put on a big surprise when I arrived there. There was TONS of places to walk around the city that featured anywhere from huge Mega Malls to the privately own businesses that had all sorts of goodies. For days all I did was walk around to try different types of food. There was a street vendor that cooked up fresh Pad Thai which is made with gluten free rice noodles, spices, some fresh egg and super huge shrimp. The cost of this? ONE WHOLE DOLLAR! The same dish goes from $8-$15 depending on the restaurant here in the US. I remember going through a whole week eating nothing but SEAFOOD everyday for cheap!

There were many great experiences even at the outdoor fruit juice vendors. For 30 cents they sliced up a fresh organic Papaya and some Mangosteen (which is a superfruit), poured some ice and blended all up waiting for me to gulp down. A bottle of water was 7 cents in case I wanted plain H20, not like $1.50 here in the United States.

People were open and friendly to me. If I needed help with directions, someone was always willing to help me find my destination. The culture was awesome to marvel at. Being a Buddhist centric nation, they always focus on karma and treating people with niceness. Not only that, but gold plays a huge role in their culture. It's very fascinating that they give more respect to gold than to say Federal Reserve notes.

There were plenty of activities to do. Want some dancing lessons? Many places to go learn. Wanted to learn how to cook delicious Thai food? So easy to find. Towards the end of my travels, I noticed my skin was looking better, my hair was stronger, and I lost weight! I lost weight due to the huge amounts of walking I did (which was fun to do, not a chore since there were so many places to see) and eating their healthy food (Thai food uses tons of herbs, gluten free ingredients with tons of veggies).

After all that walking around the city, my feet were killing me. Not a problem. I went to visit a massage place that would massage your feet for $6 for the whole hour and done professionally! I remembered feeling like Nirvana after my feet felt like feathers at the end. As for fun, you can go to one of the mega malls and pretend you are Steve Perry of Journey or Billy Joel at the Karaoke Machines.

There I was in Thailand. Had a great time with great memories of people Ive met. Then it was time..... I flew back home and WHAM!

It hit me like a ton of bricks. Reality had set in. It was back to the robotic lifestyle, work, eat, tv, sleep. There are hardly any places to walk around here unless you consider walking at strip malls watching soccer moms scramble with their kids as fun. People here weren't as friendly as they were in Thailand. The food was bla....it lacked flavor and punch. There were some good things of course. Internet was a bit faster, traffic was better and was easier to get around places having a car.

But all those little benefits in comparison to Thailand?

The next few years Ive decided to visit Thailand but on a longer basis. I stayed mainly in Bangkok but did venture out in the south like Khanom Beach, Chang Rai and part of outer Bangkok. One place I stayed for one month, another places for a few months. There was of course some growing pains, but at the end I learned many lessons and got the knowledge of how to live really cheap in Thailand. Cheap as in $600 a month on average.

Yes, you can live on $600 a month in Thailand. In the next article I will go over how this can be done (yes, im talking about Bangkok, the most expensive part of Thailand). Here's a few key pointers I will go over the next article as I wanted to write this article as a preview. Here are the key points:

- How to live safe, nice and comfortable for DIRT CHEAP
- Eating healthy, organic delicious food cheaply
- Having a great lifestlye overall
- Transportation

You might have checked other sites and read people saying you need a BARE minimum of a $1000 to have any kind of life (speaking if you are a single person). I would say that it is FALSE and it is possible to have a great lifestyle for less than that. This requires of course being smart with your money, how to spend it and also 'when' to spend it.

I will go over also on possible ways to obtain that money (one way which of course Im experimenting on) to live on if you are not a retiree. Also will go over about having back up plans if all else fails.

Till next time, I will post Part 2 of the next article that will go more into detail on how to actually live very cheap in Thailand. Also on how to get around issues with visas.

Before I go, if you have a wife, two kids, live comfortably in your house with a good job, have a social life like watching Monday Night Football with your buddies, then this series on how to live cheap in Thailand is not for you.






Saturday, July 13, 2013

Day 11-- Live in Thailand for Pennies on the Dollar?

Hello everyone and welcome to another update! I hope your morning coffee is waking you up today with a good day ahead. As for updates, my diet is coming along fine although it got a little sloppy due to a party I had to attend. My rule for going out to a big social function (like a party) is to not worry about dieting so much yet at the same time, not to go overboard. I usually eat whatever I want but in small portions.

If there is fried chicken, Ill eat some but in small amounts. Pizza? Grab me one slice please. Birthday cake? I usually end up eating half of eat. The key is not to go gorge. I consider like a snack.

It's been tough for me to exercise since I have a small tear in my hamstring which is making it near impossible to sprint. Ive been doing some light walks and mild jogs. Hopefully in a few days I can go sprinting. Will also bust out my Hamburger Diet which you will love! I can shed TONS of fat while eating burgers on a daily basis! Stay tuned!

For site updates, I decided to switch the templates a bit. It's quite ugly but it is just a test for now. I am going to get a decent webmaster just to clean up the page a bit. Nothing too drastic or crazy, just nice and simple. My goal is for a clean and simple layout, yet refreshing. Perhaps a tropical background, not sure yet.

I want to start posting twice a day if possible. Which relates to my next topic, traffic.

The traffic on my site has been good for being new, but it is very sporadic. Meaning most of my traffic comes in a certain time slot which is usually the morning hours of my time (Pacific Standard). It looks like my readers are used to seeing post at a certain hour thus having to check only once.

I want to start posting twice a day so that way you can check back on some interesting updates later in the day.

So whats on tap for this week? 

How To Live in Thailand for $600 A Month

This is a topic I REALLY want to cover! Ive been to so many forums saying that you need at BARE MINIMUM a $1000 to live just to survive! HA! And this is for a single person according to many posters at these forums!

The truth of the matter of fact is that you can live good for less than a $1000 a month in Thailand. No, you don't get out of the plane and start doing that. It takes discipline and practice.

If you practice good living habits and know how to manage certain things, it can be done. If you practice good eating habits, knowing how to time it, etc, you can succeed living cheap there. If you manage your money wisely not just looking for deals but knowing WHEN to spend it, you will succeed living cheap in Thailand. 

I am pretty vague but will go more into detail. No I will not talk about how to get a visa, what type of visa to get, etc. This subject will strictly be talked about basic living habits from month to month. This will be broken into a two part series.

Live Very Cheap in Costa Rica

I was thinking about doing this topic soon but might save it down the road as I want to focus on Thailand. I will say this, that Costa Rica is a bit more expensive than Thailand when you compare city living. But when I mean expensive, I don't mean by a huge difference. It's just that a $1000 goes further in Thailand than in Costa Rica.

That is all, keep reading the site guys and will talk again!


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Day 10: Update on Stats and Other Stuff

Hello everyone and once again, to the very few readers reading, thank you very much for reading my stuff. I do appreciate it and even to have one person read helps with my motivation to keep posting some stuff.

First off, I want to bring some site updates. Ill start off with some plans. I am planning to redesign this site a bit because the content Im posting gets left behind. I want to organize some stuff, perhaps put a better background and just clean it up a bit. This should give you guys a better experience when coming to this site.

As for stats, I really have nothing to go by other than bloggers vague stats. I need to apply Google Analytics soon to get a better feel of my site. All I have is page views for now which is not the most helpful but better than nothing.

When I first started many days I will get a few pages here and there. I had one day where I got 2 page views and that could have been myself from checking on the Iphone. I was reading some blogs that failed because they didn't the traffic they had hoped and just quit posting.

NOT ME!

Im going to do this for 200 days strong, whether one person reads or a billion reads it (LOL!). So the drumroll for Page Views....


Im averaging about 10 page views the past couple days! I average 10 page views per day and Im pretty pumped. I know many big blog sites are laughing at me for this but at least I know there are readers here.
Again, I don't want to go by page views, I want to go by how many people are checking my stuff out.

And I would rather take a few faithful readers than a ton of people just coming to my site just to visit. Loyalty and dedication is HUGE for me for anything, whether it would be for relationships, friendship and stuff of that nature. Im a rebel that way I guess.

That is all for now, will bring more stat updates in the coming days and Im telling you, 2013 is the new year for blogging! Spam sites go AWAY and HELLO to REAL BLOGS giving out useful info!

How to Make Money as a Blogger

Today I have to attend a birthday bash but wanted to put up some hot topics in the blogging world and questions that are asked many times about blogging. Ill put up a few questions that you hear all the time about trying to make at as a blogger and give some quick input and will talk about it more in the future. For now, I want to serve this as a preview. On with the the

How Much Money Does a Blogger Make ?

I think this is the most vital part of it all, isn't it? From the research that Ive done and asking other bloggers on their income, it really varies. Some bloggers can make a few bucks although they don't take it seriously and hardly do much updating. There are other huge sites like PerezHilton or the the Huffington Post which make 6 digits per month. Then there are other bloggers who take it seriously who can make a few hundred bucks a month, to a $1000 or a few thousand. It really varies and in the future will explore this aspect and discuss what you should be targeting.

Another thing is maybe not to focus so much on this early on and just build a good strong site with good content where people can learn. If people like what you write, more people will come and you just build and build from that. Don't look at this as trying to make money, let money be the side effect from your helpful content.

How Do Bloggers Make Money

Bloggers can make money in a variety of ways. There are different types of advertisements and ad campaigns you can use. Some advertisers will pay depending on how much page views you get, others will depending on if they click on an ad. You can also sell stuff for other sites, sell your own goods, etc. I will go into detail about this in the future. But I will say this, just enjoy writing good information to people who can benefit. I cannot stress this enough. And keep updating your site with strong content (I know I sound like a broken record, but want to stress on this.)

Can I Make Money Blogging ?

From some of the people Ive talked too, yes you can! It will not be easy, and Im serving as an experimental rat with my 200 day experiment without paying for traffic or doing 500 backlinks per day day. No spamming. Once again, and I think you know what Im going to say, focus on helping people. Too many sites Ive seen, and you can feel it to, can tell that they are focused on money. Put forth the work and help, bottom line.

How to Make Money as a Blogger 2013

I wanted to put this date out there because I really think 2013 is the year of the bloggers. Yes, make no mistake about it, bloggers will make money in 2013. Especially new and up and coming bloggers all because Google is cleaning up on sites that are cheating to make money with their algos. As Ive said before, you will see sites rank high on google based on keywords, using tons of backlinks everyday, and just pure spam. Google wants people who put out good information and who will update their stuff on a consistent basis. This is why I am experimenting because I dont want to pay some Internet Marketer hundreds or even thousands of dollars using tricks to bring in traffic.

and finally....


How to Start a Blog

You don't need tons of money or fancy HTML skills to do this. Look at me, I don't know any HTML (in fact, I hardly even know to use the template option in blogger). Basically in order to start you sign up for a free blogging site like WordPress or Blogger (which is the one Im using). From there you just start blogging about your favorite hobby or subject, post some interesting cool info that may be a use to other people and go from there. This will be a seperate article on it's own since I do want to get more into details and get my hands wet a bit more.

That is it for now, will cover these subjects as time progresses. Will update on stats and info. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

How To Blog For a Living (part 2)

In part I I went through a brief overview on how to blog for a living. In part 2 here I will continue on how to blog for a living and how it is possible.

When trying to make some income by blogging, as I discussed earlier, one can move into another country (will speak later in this article for those who don't want to relocate) where the cost of living is cheap. One place I am going to move to is Thailand. One person can live there for $600-$800 a month.

So lets say you start blogging by putting down some good content, people like what you read, and people started to spread the word around of your blog....you can build some income from that.

It is not impossible to make that $600 + a month if you work hard and people like what you wrote and they spread the word. Perhaps to get to that goal it may take 6 months, maybe sooner than that, maybe it might take a little longer.

Say you are a single person working in some dead end job not making the best of income and you are slaving yourself away for the boss/company, you might want to open your eyes a little bit.

How would you like to be in a beautiful tropical place eating some delicious food (arguably the worlds best), have close access to a beach, a lively nightlife (depending where you are if course), be surrounded by some of the nicest people....while you be your own boss!!?

Believe me, it is possible! It may be slow and hard to get to that goal but it is certainly possible! How would you like to travel around the world exploring new cultures while telling the world what you learned? 

This is what I'm trying to do myself. Now it is wreckless and quit your day job without a backup plan. What is that backup plan?

1. Have another job which you can fall back on if you quit. For me this would be teaching English to kids if all else fails. If that doesn't work out I will try to be a dealer again either in the states or say Asia where the casino industry is booming.

2. Have some back up money. The amount of money I will bring with me will cover 6 months to a year worth of living in Thailand if all else fails.

3. This is of course obvious but visit the other country with a cheaper cost of living you want to decide to moving. 
Do you like Costa Rica? Visit there a few times and try to go for an extended stay when possible. When you are there, do it as you are living there. That's right, no $100 dinners at the hotel or snorkeling lessons at a private island.

In future articles  i will explore on some great countries to relocate where it's clean, hospitable and cheap. Where you still can do many of the things you like to do such as watching movies, window shop at certain botique stores, etc.

And now for the people who want stay put where they are. You still can make some extra income doing this part time. Once again, I will be your experimental rat to see how it works out. And I know nothing about HTML or any of that tech stuff.


Stay tuned for more articles like..



How To Live in Thailand For $600 a Month

Sounds hard to believe but I've done it and I lived good most of all!





Monday, July 8, 2013

Day 7: a Quick Stats Update ( And a Thank You to my Two Readers!)

This is really too quick to post perhaps but at least I wanted to post this as a reference guide when I look back in the future.

The stats in one way is kinda depressing and not really worth posting, though I do see a few readers coming so thanks for checking the blog!

My main goal is to slowly build with 2 or 3 reader and go on from that. I want to dish out some good info and if that makes at least a peep or two happy then I am on the right track.

I don't want people to visit my site and not stay. If they can learn something I post or relate to my feeling then nice.

There is tons of work that needs to be done on this site for example like the layout and design which I am going to work on soon. The generic template  is my starting for now.

Will post my stats update again soon and we shall see how I do by day 20.

Day 1 - Plan of Attack and Some Realistic Goals!




Just finished a good Thai meal of Papaya Salad, Panang Chicken Curry (so good you kill someone just to smell this) and String Bean Shrimp with some sticky rice.

After this meal I got pumped and decided to make some basic goals. The foundation would be to write interesting informative posts on my blog on a consistent basis even if I get no readers.

Remember, I am not gonna go and manually type in my link on someones forum and put it on display. If people want to get to know me, they can go to the profile section.

My main focus is to put out for you guys on a consistent basis. Yes, right now im typing to ghosts so be it.


Between Day 1 to Day 20 I hope to gain at least two or three readers. All we have is page views on Blogger so ill go by that. So if I can get a few readers to enjoy my stuff by Day 20 on a consistent basis, ill be happy. 


Keeping it simple for now and give out good quality information.

After Day 20 I will revalauate where to go from there and see how this blog is doing. I will give you, my invisible readers (har har)...some stats here and there.

So lets recap:

Day 1-20 give quality content on consistent basis,keep a few readers. Wish me luck!!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

I Don't Want to Be Chubby Anymore


I Dont Want To Be Chubby Anymore

Have you ever looked at the mirror in the bathroom and didn't like what you saw. This is what happened to me. Grabbed the IPhone and snapped up a quick of myself. Eeek.

Just like the title of my post, it is true, I am tired of being chubby, sluggish and unhealthy. This blog is not just only my 200 day experiment, but a transformation of healthier and clean lifestyle. Before I make my big move towards the end of the year, I want to start getting healthy right now. 



One thing that Ive been good is on nutrition (and even how to use supplements to get someone's desired goal). The thing is that I have not been applying anything lately and just passing time. It also doesn't help that my shoulder is not good which makes it hard to do some weight training at the gym. So I'm going to do something really unconventional that probably goes against the grain of what people tell you in the gym or whatever. 

I am not going to go to the gym at all. That is right. NO GYM at all. Why am I not going to the gym? For a lot of reasons. One is that I can save time and money. Tired of paying gym memberships month to month with nothing to show for. This was me in the past. Add to the fact that if I want to move to another country and save money the best way I can, I might have to nix going to the gym.

Then there is the time issue. I don't want to have to drive for 15-20 minutes to get to the gym and additional 15-20 minutes to drive back.

I want the exercise to be nice and simple. 

So what exercise will I be using to get lean? SPRINTING.

When you watch the Olympics, which athletes looked ripped and strong? That is correct my friend, sprinters. Sprinters are some of the leanest athletes with well built physiques. I believe why hunters or cavemen were lean (aside from a super nutritious diet) was the fact that they had to sprint for a very short brief time to chase an animal.

Sprinting raises your metabolism like no other and there is science to prove it. I will talk about that later in a future article but for now I want to briefly touch upon sprinting's fat burn capabilities.

One of the ways sprinting burns so much fat is a process called EPOC which stands for Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. Basically your body is trying to recover from such an intense session due to lack of oxygen so all sorts of interesting things happen in your body.

Sprinting raises hormones naturally such as Growth Hormone (yes, the very expensive anti-aging hormone that is the fad for old folks trying to recapture their fountain of youth). It raises catecholamines which includes norepinephrine, dopamine, etc which are all fat burning hormones. 

This will be my main exercise for now and I will start out slow and easy. Doing wind sprints will make your legs extremely sore and will take days to recover.  After I start out nice and slow and once my body adapts, I will push it even further. For example if I start out with a 2 or 3 sprints in the first week, I will increase to 3 to 4 the following week until I can do some sprints almost everyday.

Note: You don't have to do sprints everyday to get the full fat loss effects. Just a few times a week. I remembered about 10 years when I experimented I got excellent results just doing a few times a week.
I just want to push the boundries this time since my goal is for fast fat loss. Then once I reach my goals I will do maintenance amounts to continue to get lean but without having to do sprints all the time.

I will do some strengthening exercises as my shoulder starts to get better but I am not going to the gym to pump iron. Rather I will do these exercises at my home or perhaps at a park that I live next to which I can walk by.

Also walking. I love walking because its easy to do and just a good way to get blood moving around.

My diet for right now will be very simple yet with an interesting modification. I will reveal later on as time goes by but for right now I just want to clean up my diet a bit. No more gluten products like bread, pasta, and the likes. Will focus on some high antioxidant berries, chicken, grass fed beef once and awhile, free range eggs, that kind of stuff. Will not be super strict either. Will have some cereals and perhaps ice cream at times (cereals of course will be gluten free). Also going to use Thai fruits and herbs which is beyond super nutritious and great for anti-aging properties. Thai people way younger than your typical average American. Hmmm...could it be from what they eat? 

I will also take in some Coconut Oil as this is AWESOME for giving energy and also for boosting metabolism. For sure I will do an article on this, one of the most underrated things to help one persons body.

Will try not use any scales or anything but I will post starting weight. Simply because I believe sprinting will melt the fat and build muscle which may not show on the scale. Yes, I really believe a diet similar to what cavemen/hunters ate along with exercise patterns they did, it will transform your body. It will take time, but I will get to my goals.

Updates on this will come as it goes.



Saturday, July 6, 2013

How to Blog For a Living

Here with a calm warm Saturday evening update as I type away on my IPhone. If I can type over 500 words it will be a miracle on this Blogger app. Anymore than that and I should be eligible for the next Summer Olympics.

So yes, how can I make some money blogging while living the life? This is a question one might ask, and a question that passes by someones head and is soon forgot as yesterday's dream. This is why I'm doing this experiment because I believe it is possible.

Does this mean changing how you live if you want to blog for a living? Of course! If you are like me and have a good job, with a good car, decent place to live, go out to town....then change is required. At least in the beginning.

Take me for instance: I make roughly $70k + a year which comes out to 4-5k a month after taxes. Hate to break it to you but don't expect to make that much blogging from the start. Even people with their own site (from what I've checked) with years of experience, all the knowledge of Internet marketing, being an expert on the tech side...etc, still barely see half of the amount I just said. Or even a quarter or some even a tenth.

My theory, and this is being a newbie is that they focus way too much on the marketing side of things like shortcuts on how to gain traffic. Personally I don't think there should be shortcuts. How about being interesting or helping people.

So why again do I think it's possible to blog for a living if the income is low to start with (and that's if I can even get income)? Because of my experience of living in different countries, that is why.

I've lived mainly in Colombia, Costa Rica and Thailand besides the United States. One can live in Costa Rica for a $1000 a month. I can live in Thailand for $600 a month while still eating good and enjoy some hobbies (will do a separate article on that soon). And not only that, but my life was so much better. I ate healthier, I looked better, I felt better, no problems with stress and depression as I do so here.

Did I have a good 3 bedroom house and a good car to drive while I was staying in those countries? No. But was I still living good, clean and safely (can't really give the green light yet in some parts of Colombia as for safety, but the main city Bogota I give a green light)? Yes.

If you are trying to live in the US (especially in areas where cost of living is higher), trying to blog for a living is going to be harder. You can live like a king for $2000 a month in those countries I mentioned, but in the US, you are barely getting by. But don't give up on the dream to blog for a living. Start it slow, do it part time and let it grow. Let me be your experimental rat to see how far it goes.

I will continue on this subject as I have so much information to share. Will focus on why you may want to look at other countries to relocate if you are the adventurous type like myself. See you tomorrow.

Day 4 (late): Not Feeling Well


Not feeling well and here is a lovely pic to go along with that 



Yup, that's right, it's America's dinner baby. Two cheeseburgers and fries from McDonalds. Been feeling gassy and bloated lately. Been feeling a bit depressed and wore down.

Could it be my somewhat bad eating habits? I'm thinking that it is. Not only that, but I've been getting chubby. Starting to get a spare tire around my waist.

The crazy thing is that I'm pretty knowledgable with nutrition yet I still eat crappy on a consistent basis. My feeling is that my nutrition has been bringing down overall on my physical and mental health.

I really need to change the way I eat. Plus I've been inactive and being in my mid 30s it's time to get concerned about health. May need a big change to get me moving soon.

Aside from my little spiel there, I'm hoping to share stories on my past living experiences in the countries I stayed at. How blogging in another country could be possible.

Ill go more into detail on my long term goals tomorrow and why you might want to open your eyes.

No, many people here do not want to live the same lifestyle as I do which I truly understand. I'm just not a 9-5 clock in and clock out type of guy.

I want to visit other places that I've never seen. I don't want to try to get the newer model car or newer model furniture for my house. How can these objects make you any more happier? Again, I like nice things, but I don't want to be a slave to these things.

If i have to work 9-5 with a boss that tries to hold you down, only to come home exhausted to watch some boring reruns... All this work to make $$ so that I can upgrade my car and TV ...

You can have it! It's just not for me.

That's all for now, see you tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Day 1: TheJourney Begins

Right now I sit on my bed with just me and my laptop. Im constantly thinking about that once I quit, how am I going to survive. There are people who I have lined up to rent my house. Got that checked. Have a sparse bit of money saved up. Check.

My only back up plan is all else fails is to maybe teach English say Thailand. The pay is low (about $800 per month) but at least I would feel more free out there. Ive lived partially in different countries before, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Thailand. Ive survived at those places with less but it was just for a short time.

One thing I was very good at was living cheaply but still living clean and good. I don't like hostels as they smell like someone's yesterday socks, Im not keen into having roomates yet I still found a way. (Yes, I did have roomates at times but was mainly left alone)Eating cheap is key and knowing how is HUGE. HUGE. Also budgeting fun money with regular money, etc, is important.

In the future I will share some stories about that and how I lived there. No graphic stuff of course, but some pretty interesting things I discovered along the way.

Well its time for me to get eat dinner and will post stuff throughout the week or maybe daily.
Right now I have 1 view, lol. I guess I am my biggest fan, hehe

MY 200 Day Expirment of Blogging 4 A Living

Well, where to start. Should I talk about myself first or should I just get to the point of my blog? Ill do the latter.

The point of this blog is to break from the system. What system you ask? The system of working for a company/boss on a rigid schedule. Pretty much wake up, brush teeth, shave, rush to put on your work clothes, sprint to car and speed off to work.

The system of clocking in and going through the daily grind. You know what I mean, put in long hours of work, come home to barely catch some dinner and off to bed.

To me that is NOT life. That is the rat race that we face everyday. Work, sleep and eat. Whatever happened to living? Whatever happened to enjoying things in life instead of sitting in a cubicle wasting the day away.

I work in a pretty good job at the moment, making around 70K a year as a casino dealer. Mid 30s guy where people tell me all the time I have potential, yada yada (potential for what, to be a Pit Boss wearing some overpriced suit?) I should be happy with life because Im making decent money flipping cards right? Not at all. My job is not bad, its just it takes a huge effect on you mentally because you see people lose their life savings right in front of your face. One minute they are your best friends because they think you made em rich in blackjack, then the next minute they hate your guts.

My goal in this blog is simply this. Make enough income SIMPLY WRITING or I guess BLOGGING. That is it. I am about to quit my job here as a dealer and looking forward to living in another country where the cost of living is around $600- $800/month. And I want to do it with ZERO MARKETING. Just writing. NOTHING ELSE. No fancy '''keywords''' or paying for someone to spam traffic. Just simple stuff. I am a member already to a few blogs so will continue with the same.

My family already thinks Im crazy for quitting a good job to run off to some country (Thailand, where cost of living is cheap as I "semi" lived there).But im tired, REALLY tired of the zombie daily grind. I want to wake up to fresh air, I want to go out and meet people, do things,take more hobbies, check out what nature has to offer..you know...LIFE!

But basically this forum will be used to explain my travelling adventures in the past as I lived in different countries. etc.
Thanks for reading this.